The Oakland City Council succumbed to public pressure Tuesday night and reversed a controversial parking meter enforcement rule that sparked a citywide revolt when it went into effect three months ago.

The council voted 6-1 to roll back meter enforcement from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. after shoppers, diners and residents complained the policy penalized them for enjoying Oakland's burgeoning restaurant and nightlife scene. Merchants complained that their business dropped up to 30 percent because of the extended meter hours.

"Clearly, the parking regimen has been very unwelcome," said Councilwoman Pat Kernighan. "As bad as our budget problems have been, it's clear this is unacceptable. People don't like feeling we're balancing the budget on their backs."

Begins today

The rollback will go into effect today.

"This has been a very, very tough time for us," said Councilwoman Jean Quan, chairwoman of the budget committee, which recently sliced $140 million to balance the city's budget. "We did some public outreach on this, but obviously we didn't do enough. People didn't see this in context of the whole budget."

Oakland, like cities across California, is facing a severe budget shortfall, as the state reduces its payouts to cities and tax revenue falls short because of the recession. Oakland cut salaries 10 percent, including those of council members, eliminated 400 jobs and curtailed dozens of programs and services.

The new parking policy also included increased ticket fines and a 50-cent hike in hourly meter rates, to $2. The new ticket rates and meter prices will remain unchanged.

Too little, too late

Allen Michaan, owner of the Grand Lake Theater and a leader of the parking revolt, said before the vote that the council's likely reversal is too little, too late.

"They've committed incalculable harm to the entire city with their aggressive, predatory and often illegal parking enforcement," he said. "Unless they open their arms, refund tickets and say, 'Welcome to Oakland,' shoppers will continue to abandon Oakland en masse."

The city says it can recoup the $1 million lost by the meter rollback by adding 250 more meters, opening city garages at night, allowing more billboards and other steps.

Councilwoman Nancy Nadel voted against the rollback, saying the city couldn't afford to give up the revenue.

S.F. backs off

Berkeley and San Francisco have also looked at extending meter hours as a way to raise revenue. But, taking a cue from Oakland's debacle, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last week backed off plans to enforce meters until 9 or 10 p.m.

Berkeley also retreated from plans to lengthen meter enforcement. Berkeley considered extending meters from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but "there was huge pushback," said Mayor Tom Bates.

"Cities have so very few opportunities to raise revenue, this is one of the few avenues we actually have available," Bates said, noting that taxes must be approved by two-thirds of voters and can take months to collect. "But people just didn't want it."

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